Gary Grows at Heritage Cottage

Tomatoes are the number one vegetable most home gardeners want to grow. There’s plenty of advice fellow gardeners like to share. Heck, I’m no different.

Now I understand we’re at the beginning of May and many gardeners have already planted their tomatoes, but there’s still plenty of time to get those tomatoes planted in your garden. So, whether you grow in containers like me or in a more traditional in-ground garden, here’s some of my top tips for growing great tomatoes this year.

• Variety selection is important as there are so many from which to choose. But not all are suited for every garden. Your regional climate needs to be considered. Heirloom tomatoes are popular but there are literally 100s of heirloom tomatoes, all of which are regionally adapted. Brandywines are well-known and were selected in eastern OH/western PA and don’t grow well in my coastal MS garden. In fact, I’ve tried growing well over 100 heirloom tomatoes looking for those adapted to my hot and humid growing condition.
  • To complicate the decision making process, tomatoes are available in a variety of colors ranging from traditional red, yellow, orange, black (mahogany brown) and other non-traditional colors.

• Decide if you want to grow determinate or indeterminate tomatoes.
  • Determinate tomatoes will typically grow four feet tall. It’s a myth that determinate tomato fruit all ripen at once. That may be true for the commercial varieties. In my home garden experience these plants typically bear fruit over a six-to-eight-week period. This is perfect for my two-season tomato production, spring and fall.
  • Indeterminate tomatoes have been described as having a vining growth habit and will continue to grow and produce over the entire summer season. In my zone 9a garden I find these indeterminates do not produce well in the extreme heat of July and August.
• Start with healthy seedlings: Whether you start your plants from seed or buy seedlings from a nursery, make sure they are healthy and free from disease.
• Location is important as tomatoes need sunshine, and lots of it, to produce am abundant harvest. Make sure your tomatoes get at least 6 to 8 or more hours of full sun every day. Some will advise to provide some shade to the plants during the heat of the day. This is not needed and just makes extra work for you.
• Tomatoes need consistent moisture and well-drained regardless of your growing strategy. Make sure to water them deeply and regularly, especially during dry spells. Avoid getting the leaves wet when watering, as this can lead to disease. Drip, or microirrigation, can make the watering easier and more efficient.
• Tomatoes are heavy feeders and producing tomato fruit requires consistent fertilization throughout the growing season. Good pre-plant fertilization as well as supplemental nutrition is required. Watering with soluble fertilizers work great as well as adding calcium nitrate once every three weeks is a good practice.
• As tomatoes grow and become, and hopefully heavy with fruit, they will need support to keep them upright. You can use cages, stakes, or trellises to support the plants and prevent them from falling over.

• There’s much written about tomatoes that are vine ripened. But let me say that the longer that tomato fruit is on the plant, the greater the chance of something happening to it.
  • For smaller cherry-type tomatoes I always allow to ripen on the plant because it’s a fairly quick process.
  • For larger fruit, say 6 ounces and greater, I look for the first signs of color on the blossom end. This is an indicator that the fruit has all the sugars it’s going to have. I pick and bring these inside to ripen as the sun is no longer needed; warm temperatures will finish the job.
    • A ripening tip I like to share is to put the fruit next to the coffee maker on your counter as this area will be a couple of degrees warmer.

I think this is a good time to make an admission: I don’t like fresh tomatoes. That said in 2021 I harvested over 1000 pounds from my home garden. More on what we do with our abundant harvests in later posts.